Improvement in expanding frames for soldering fruit-cans



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN K. COOK, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA.A

IMPROVEMENT lN EXPANDING FRAMES FOR SOLDERING FRUIT-CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,531, dated July 24, 1866.

' Cans and other Articles; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the aceompanyin g drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in an arrangement of arms and wings operated by acenter shaft, by means of which the frame-work is contracted or expanded at pleasure, and enabling` the operator to tit the top and the bottom onto the body ot the can, holding them tirmly in position by the expansive force of the frame, and

I after the parts are soldered he contracts the frame by a reverse motion ofthe center shaft, closing up the wings and removing the frame through the hole in the top.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a perspective View of the frame when extended, and Fig. 2 shows the slotted triangular plate by means of which the frame is expanded and contracted.

ln Fig. l, AAA are the wings, whose circumference is curved to t the shape of the can to be soldered. B B' B are arms connecting the top of the Win gs, severally, with the triangular plate D', which is operated by and turns with the center shaft, C. The armsB B B are secured to the plate D' by bolts c c c, upon which they work loosely. The triangular pedestal E is fitted with a corresponding plate, G, Fig. 2, arranged with openings a a' a' parallel to its sides, while a plate, D, Fig. l, to which is attached the arms B B B by the bolts a a a, revolves in the same plane, the bolts a a a passing through the plate D and working in the slots a a a of plate Gr, Fig. 2, as shown in the dotted lines D, Fig. l. The thumb-plate F is rigidly attached to the center shaft and turns the same, by which it operates the plates D and D. The triangular pedestal E is attached to the plate G and is held in position while the l thumbplateF is operated to open or close the arms.

To operate this device in the making of fruitcans, the side or body of the can is 'formed up, (without a lock, as in the ordinary way,) set into the ready-formed bottom, the frameinserted, the top put on, and the operator, by means of the thumb-plate F, expands the frame, taking care that one of the wings shall be in ilnmediate contact with the side seam to be soldered. The pressure of the Wings distends the body ot' the can tightly into the turned-up anges of the top and bottom, holding them in proper position until they are successively soldered, when the frame is closed by a re- Verse motion of the thumb-plate and Withdrawn through the hole in the top of the iinished can. The entire work of soldering is thus done at a single operation in less than one-third the time ordinarily required, and the labor and time of making the lock in the body is dispensed with.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new is- The arrangement and combination herein described of an expanding frame for soldering 'fruit-cans, capable of being withdrawn through the hole in the top of the canvwhen iinished, as and for the purposes substantially as set forth and described.

JOHN K. COOK.

Witnesses MAHLoN EVERETT, WM. T. DENNIs. 

